The potential for varying corporation tax…

Talking to IJP, or Councillor Ian Parsley last Friday he made an interesting point. That there is always a problem with assemblies and councils that are not in some way responsible for tax raising or at the very least tax varying powers. It causes friction between the component parts within the system. Yet the Varney report appears to knock back the possibility of a differential rate of Corporation Tax. Tom however has seen a chink of light, in that Varney concedes that previous arguments that it was impossible are not valid. Conall thinks this will run and run for most of next year. But if we are talking about a cut in tax, who is likely to take the hit (a tidy £2.2 billion over ten years) in expenditure: UK or NI?

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty